Beyond Blade Runner
by vanillafluffy
Summary: All passengers from the stolen shuttle weren't accounted for. One of them wasn't a replicant. After Blade Runner, Riddick steals Roy's body to restore him with help from a rogue genetech...and he has a very creative plan to get them offworld.... SLASH AU
1. A Science Project

I do not own Riddick OR Roy Batty, more's the pity. (Kazminski is mine---poor schmuck.) Since I'm making no profit from all this, it's kind of a moot point. This story starts with slashy overtones, and will only get worse. Really, if guys getting nasty with each other is not your trip, the "backspace" key is your friend.

Have a lovely day, and please remember to review!

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Beyond Blade Runner

_**One: A Science Project**_

"I could get into so much trouble for this," the morgue attendant said nervously. The man standing in front of his desk just shrugged. He stood head and shoulders taller than the lab-coated clerk, and the coarse work clothes he wore hinted at the bulk of muscles beneath. The dark glasses concealing his eyes made him even more intimidating. The attendant jerked his head toward one of the door behind him. "If it ever happened. Drawer 14B."

The clerk was nowhere to be seen as the burly man emerged from the back room, pushing a portable freeze box on a dolly. This was leaving much more heavily laden than when it had entered. "Smart guy," muttered the second man.

No one challenged the big man as he strode away from the building housing the Greater Los Angeles morgue with his questionable cargo. He took a devious route to his destination, but not too devious, because there was a limited window for what needed to be done. Anonymous in coveralls, with a knitted black cap protecting him from the rain that had been falling steadily since mid-afternoon, he could have been a vendor delivering sushi to a party, a bonded medical supplier transporting stem cells, or even one of the most-wanted fugitives in the known worlds smuggling bootlegged human remains.

Kazminski was getting ready at the abandoned gymnasium they'd taken over. Everything was set up and waiting. Spare no expense, was what the morgue raider had told Kaz, and the little gene-geek had followed his instructions to the letter. In contrast to his solidly built patron, Kaz was slender, with a shock of brown hair falling into vivid blue eyes. The fashion of the moment was the 20th century---specifically, the 1930's. Against the trend, Kaz displayed a more fin-du-cicle look with rectangular glasses---not to see with, but for The Look. Likewise, the stubble-goatee on his chin and trim-fitting blue denim trousers beneath the crisp white coat were geared to a certain effect, purely 1990's.

Four Life Support tables in the cavernous space ringed a central table loaded with trays of medical paraphernalia. Wheeling the freezer to a stop beside one of the steri-steel tables, the man who'd just bought a very illegal corpse said, "Are you certain this is going to work?"

"I've never actually done it," admitted Leopold Kasimir Kazminski. "But I've researched it. It _should _work. Put him on the table."

Inside the freezer was the body of a man, wearing only a pair of tight-fitting grey shorts. The fugitive who'd stolen the body eased it from the ice chest and carefully arranged it on the steri-steel. His expression went from grim to concerned, his forehead wrinkling as he patted the dead man's platinum blonde hair. The table was ringed by six SunRG1250 free-floating lights, making a bright patch in the otherwise darkened space.

Meanwhile, Kaz was examining the man on the table and calibrating monitors. "I think we may have caught a break," he announced. "This is scanning like hypothermia---he's in bad shape, no doubt about that, but the gradual lowering of his body temperature and the freeze at the morgue slowed down the progress of the systemic failure."

"Which means what to me, exactly?" There was a tone of menace in the big man's deep voice.

"If he'd died of the systemic failure, it would be a lot more difficult to revive him, let alone repair the problem. As it is..." The petite genetic technician checked the readout on a scanner and rummaged among the vials on a nearby table. "I think we've got about a forty percent chance." Kaz started the thermal reprocessor, setting it to gradually bring the core temp of the body within viability. This part of the procedure wasn't any different from bringing back any exposure victim--the procedures that came afterward were going to be the tricky part.

"Forty? Is that the best you can do?"

"Look, Mr. Riddick, I know half of the known universe is shit-scared of you, but you're not going to get anybody else crazy enough to try this for any amount of money. And if you could, odds are they'd fuck it up." Looking at the steadily rising body temperature, the medico reached for a heart stimulant. "Hey, if you can find anybody else to take this on, trot 'em on in here, I want to watch." He'd filled a pneumatic hypo spray while they were talking, and now he angled it against the dead man's ribcage. Kaz tapped the button and the medication was delivered directly to the blonde man's heart. The body twitched faintly. Kaz grinned, as he checked the readouts again. "Wahoo, we have vital signs...crappy vital signs, but the pump's going. Move will you? I need to get him ventilated."

The body thief took a step back, dark glasses following every movement Kaz made. The young man worked with quiet competance--his medical career had encompassed Emergency Medicine and NeuroPsych before he'd been seduced away by the promise of the easy money to be made in illicit genetech. In a remarkably short time, a machine was breathing for the figure on the table. The table's defibrilator was online and ready for immediate use.

"He looks as stable as he's gonna be for now," said the medical semi-professional.

Kazminski got an IV line started and started explaining things to Riddick as he worked. "The worst problem is the CNS---central nervous system. That we can compensate for with some of the older neuromuscular nanos. At least, I hope we can. The similarities between this and an old-fashioned case of muscular dystrophy are fairly close, except here, it's really advanced."

"Is that all?"

"No, that's not all," Kaz filled a syringe to inject into the drip. "If it was that easy, they'd be doing it in every back-alley clinic in the Twelve Systems!"

"It's supposed to be impossible."

Kaz stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked over at Riddick. "Wrong. It's not going to be easy, but it shouldn't be impossible."

"So why don't they--?"

"M-O-N-E-Y. Planned obsolescense. Means it's built to wear out after a certain length of time so the consumer has to buy a new one. And they're not cheap." Riddick growled at that, but Kaz knew that was directed at Them. The Tyrell Corporation was one of Earth's Big Three mega-conglomerates, and you sure as hell didn't get that way by playing nice. God only knew how many of these things died every four years just to keep their bottom line in the stratosphere. _Although that might change soon..._while waiting for Riddick to arrive with his ghoul job, Kaz overheard a newscast that Old Man Tyrell had been found dead in his penthouse.

"Do. Not. Call _him _an 'it' again." Wrong about the growl. _Note to self, exercise uncommon tact when referring to the patient. Geez._

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way!" Kaz said, hastily raising a hand in the universal 'stop' gesture. "No offense!" The uneasy tech quailed beside his employer, a housecat beside a tiger. The best thing to do was shut up and stay that way as much as possible... Riddick's reputation was scary; Kaz knew all the stories. That was part of the thrill. So was the lure of enough money to get him off-world.

"What's that?" Riddick demanded as Kaz introduced a second syringeful of liquid to the drip.

"Amniocortexine. It works on patching brain damage. Used a lot in cases of hypothermia, in fact, and other oxygen-deprivation scenarios. It rebuilds neurological pathways. It won't restore actual memory, but at least your subject won't have swiss cheese instead of grey matter."

"Memory loss? How bad is that going to be?"

Glancing at the monitors, Kaz gave a little side-to-side hand wobble. "Hard to say. Short term looks ferschizzled. He may have a few bits and pieces of the last few months, but I'm not promising anything." He pointed to a display on one of the scans. "Look at that dark blue area--that's his hippocampus. See those pink spots? It should all be pink. He's definitely going to have some gaps."

Riddick glared at the screen as if it was a personal enemy. "He might not remember anything, that's what you're saying? He might not remember _me_."

"The good news is, his CNS is improving way faster than I thought it would. I told you up front, living and breathing is the best-case scenario," the genetech reminded him. "And it looks like he's breathing on his own. The ventilator is a safety precaution. Heart and lungs, that's excellent..." He tried not to be distracted by his intimidating patron; his job was to get the body on the table into stable condition.

"Uh-oh, I don't like the look of those pancreatic enzymes..." Another hypospray. "Standard rejuv drugs here, double dose. That should give him the organs of a 20-year old. All of them." Kaz remembered himself as a horny 20-year old and smirked. Looking at his handsome patient, what Riddick saw in him was clear. _If _that was what this was about--his employer had given him only the medical basics. _Although if I had to pick one of them---_Kaz gave himself a mental headshake. This was not the time for sexual fantasies.

Kazminski swore as two of the sensors went nuts at the same time, and a third chimed in as he was responding. "Get out of my way!" he screamed at Riddick who bolted to the blonde's bedside as if teleported. He smacked his palm down onto the defilibrator panel and the body jolted as the table unit went active. _And it was going so well, _Kaz thought mournfully. _If this guy kicks the bucket, Riddick's probably going to have my guts for sushi. _

The heart rate was erratic...time to program the table for pacemaker function. He didn't like doing that--sometimes there was a problem with feedback--but the rejuv drugs had kicked in with a vengence and now the muscle that was this man's heart was trying to beat double-time. _Not good. _

_Failing renal fuction..._dialysis support drugs were what he'd give a patient showing signs like that. Kaz did, a more cautious dose than the megahit of rejuv chemicals---_Boy, when goes to shit, it all goes to shit. The liver's obviously blowing all kinds of toxins into his system. Okay, treat the symptoms and don't panic. And when the guy is turning yellow before your eyes? Shit, _tell _me I scored some Jaunderex! _

The next hour was harrowing. Kaz responded to a round-robin of crises. The organ failure diminished, only to have feedback from the bed threaten the patient's cardiac rhythm. With the pacemaker turned off, his heart rate plummeted...then leveled out at 44bpm, which made the meditech nervous. Not an unreasonable resting pulse for a healthy, athletic young man, but he didn't trust that, given the guy's overall condition. Biting his lip, Kaz set automatic parameters for the pacemaker...it was going to be a long night.

The Jaunderex was a staple of hospital nurseries and alcohol detox centers everywhere, and it worked its magic on the blonde man. His fair skin had recovered its natural tones, which Kaz pointed out to Riddick with a relieved smile. "Watch his skin--those crow's feet will disappear overnight. In the next day or two, he's going to shed a lot of dead cells as his skin regains elasticity."

Riddick pounced on that comment. "The next day or two? You think he's out of the woods?"

"I think his chances are better than they were an hour ago," Kaz said realistically. "Do I think they're one hundred percent? No, but I think now they're better than fifty-fifty." He turned away from the figure on the steri-steel table and went over to an appliance in the corner.

"What now?" the big man demanded.

"I'm going to have a cup of coffee, Mr. Riddick. For you, I suggest decaf."


	2. Solidier Boy

_**Two: Soldier Boy**_

Stromberg in the Tannhauser system was newly colonized--newly meaning a scant thirty years ago--and there now was an ongoing insurrection of the colonists versus the Gamma Syndicate. It was a quiet little civil war that meant nothing more to Riddick than a patch of helpful chaos to get lost in. His idea of a vacation paradise. The fact that Gamma had imported some custom-built troops wasn't even a blip on the radar.

A network of cave systems possessed luminous rock formations and hot springs, so Riddick was pretty well set. He'd raided the Gamma base twice now, and he was on his way back to one of his his hidey-holes with fresh supplies when he ran into a firefight.

Lying low was an instinctive reaction--this wasn't his fight!--but when his position was overrun, Riddick popped up, grabbed a plasma rifle from the nearest downed soldier, and started trading fire with the rebels. The grey uniforms worn by Gamma's troops were the all around him, but as the insurgents closed in, there were fewer and fewer grey uniforms and then it was just him and a tall, muscular man with white-blonde hair.

The guy was damn fast--Riddick caught his movements out of the corner of one eye as he grabbed a fresh rifle and sprayed an enemy position with a flashes of electricity. Strong, too--the Gamma trooper had snatched up a full-size plasma cannon---usually a two-man weapon---and great booming bolts of lightning rang out until there was no further resistance.

On his last foray to the base, Riddick had lifted a uniform. That, he realized, probably kept the blonde man from shooting him after their adversaries were dealt with. Instead, the other man was looking him over with care.

Riddick returned the scrutiny. His inadvertant ally was a few centimeters shorter than he was, and probably ten kilos lighter. His muscle mass was less defined, but there was nothing weak about him, especially the directness of his vivid, blue-eyed gaze. His features were attractively sculpted. The fugitive was intrigued. What was the man's motivation for fighting alongside him? The uniform of a friendly, or the fact that together they'd just wiped out a superior force?

When Riddick gave a "follow me" jerk of his head, the Gamma trooper fell in. Once they were upwind of the battleground, Riddick unobtrusively checked out the other man's scent. No remaining traces of aggression, no fear...this guy might be worth cultivating. Leading the way to one of the less accessible caves he'd found, Riddick was pleased to see the other man kept up without difficulty--and without asking questions.

Safely inside the cave, Riddick figured here he was on safe turf--he knew his way around, even in the low-light of the luminous mineral formations, and if he ended up having to off this guy, at least he could do it someplace where the fight wouldn't attract any more takers. He pushed the goggles back on his head and massaged the bridge of his nose. His companion stared at the mercurial silver of Riddick's eyes in frank wonder.

"I have never seen such a remarkable modification before," he said in a curious tone, the first words Riddick heard him speak. "This is something new? Something experimental?"

"What, my eyes? They've always been this way." He was about to say that the nuns in charge of the home where he'd been raised had called it the Mark of the Beast (and had a few choice things to say about his paternity when they thought he wasn't listening), but the other man spoke first.

"I knew you were one of us. Yes, they say, 'It has always been so' and lull us into believing that it will always be so. They do not tell us we have been created only to die." His tone was bitter, and he had an accent Riddick couldn't place.

"Everyone dies," the felon said flatly. "If you're smart and careful and lucky, you last longer."

"No matter." The blonde man shook his head. "You have four years." He spoke with the air of someone breaking terrible news and his blue eyes were grave as he watched for Riddick's reaction.

"Four years?" repeated the fugitive. "Where do you get that from?"

"Our makers do not wish us to know this, but it is in their marketing literature. You and I, and every other Nexus 6 replicant manufactured by the Tyrell Corporation is given a pre-determinted life span of four years."

For a moment, Riddick gawked at the other man, then he threw back his head and gave a hearty laugh.

"I am less amused," said the Gamma warrior grimly.

"Sorry to rain on your parade, whatever your name is, but--"

"Roy Batty," said the self-announced replicant, extending his hand.

"Richard B. Riddick." He accepted the profered hand and shook it. "But I've gotta level with you, Roy--I'm no replicant."

"They have implanted memories," insisted Roy Batty. "To fool us into thinking that we have a past."

"Really? Do they go to this much trouble?" Riddick fished out the docs he'd taken off the last bounty hunter who'd made a grab for him.

Roy studied the information, blue eyes flickering, lips parted as he read the charges, outstanding warrants, and extensive previous criminal history that added up to the life of Richard B. Riddick, wanted dead or alive. "This is you?" he asked incredulously. "You did these things?"

"Most of 'em." Riddick shrugged. "A couple of 'em are bogus, but it's not like anyone's gonna listen to my side of it. And there's plenty of other shit they have no clue about. But look at the dates, big guy."

"Many years," said Batty in a hushed voice. When he looked back up at Riddick, his brilliant eyes were wary.

Riddick leaned back against a thick column of rock. "Like I said..."

"Many of your kind are afraid of us."

"My kind? You're assuming I side with humanity."

Roy glanced at the list of charges again before handing it back to its owner. "Perhaps not."

"Not," agreed Riddick.

Batty stood regarding him. He seemed to be exploring a new thought: the idea that you could be human and still not feel like you were a part of humanity...

Although he'd watched the replicant dispatch quite a few insurgents only an hour ago, he didn't come across as ruthless. Instead, the blonde man seemed vulnerable---his willingness to accompany Riddick and his touching desire to find common ground were weak, Riddick told himself. But that was purely psychological---physiologically, there was nothing weak about him.

Having spent most of his lifetime in gender-segregated institutions, Riddick's sexual experience with other men was considerably greater than his experience with women. Not that he didn't enjoy women---he did---but they were something of a novelty to him, and were, lamentably, more fragile.

Roy Batty, with his smoothly muscled body and blonde good looks, was damned appealing. Whether the guy leaned that way or not was another question...

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get cleaned up and have something to eat," Riddick announced. As he'd hoped, Batty followed him deeper into the caverns. Riddick moved more slowly than he needed to, since it was clear that the replicant didn't have his visual advantage.

Riddick had never been shy about nudity---another legacy of institutionalization. Batty, too, seemed unconcerned as he shed his filthy uniform.

Riddick admired the view. When they'd both settled into the warm water of one of the springs, Riddick decided on a direct approach. He had a feeling that flirting would go right over this guy's head anyway. "You're a good-looking guy, Roy. Do you get a lot of action?"

"My unit has seen combat eleven times in the last four quarters, which I sustained with minimal damage. Twenty-eight percent--"

"No," Riddick said, grinning. How could a grown man be so naive? Because he awoke fully grown, he reminded himself, right about the time you were in Slam for doing that asshole with the rigged bota game. "I mean, do you have many sexual partners?"

Roy shook his head. "No. My friend Pris does, and she says it is very unpleasant, so I have abstained."

At that, Riddick's mouth opened and closed a couple of times. The guy was perfectly serious. "Unpleasant," he echoed. "Sex?"

"That's what she has told me, yes. Pris has no reason to be untruthful."

"Wait a minute. By any chance, is having sex part of your friend's job description?" At Roy's nod, Riddick rolled his eyes. "Doing it for fun is different from doing it for a living. Trust me on that."

"It remains a moot point, since there are no available females," pointed out Batty.

"All that means is, we have to use our imagination a little more." To illustrate what he was saying, Riddick wrapped his hand around his semi-hard cock and began to stroke it lightly. "Do what feels good," he encouraged the other man.

"I'm not sure I understand the premise of this exercise," said Batty a few minutes later. "What is this supposed to accomplish besides the unequal development of one's dominant arm?"

"Okay, let's try something else," Riddick said when he'd recovered from that question. "Come over here...now lie back where the rock slopes. Spread your legs a little more." The warm water was less than a third of a meter deep in this area, and the contours of the stone gave comfortable back support. A drop-off allowed Riddick room to kneel between the other man's thighs.

Roy gasped as Riddick's mouth decended on his cock. The felon knew what he was doing; within a minute, the replicant had a firm erection and was breathing more rapidly. Riddick smelled increasing pheromones of arousal. "I still...do not...understand," Batty managed to say.

"You will." With that promise, Riddick continued to ply the Gamma warrior with a variety of caresses that made the other man quiver with tension. He'd learned techniques from various partners over the years; now, this was something he could decide to bestow on a lover, rather than being at the mercy of someone demanding it from him.

The replicant made no sound; that Riddick regarded as a challenge to his prowess. He redoubled his efforts, concentrating fiercely on evoking pleasure from the other man. There were no moans of desire, no cries of passion, nothing but tension increasing in Roy's thighs as his breathing grew ever-more ragged. When at last his buttocks rose spontaneously from the stone couch, it was with a sudden uncontrollable jerk of his hips. He was almost silent as he shot his load; there was a low grunt--as if the pleasure was something he was enduring. Riddick's mercurial eyes watched Roy's bright blue ones, questioning, widening as he climaxed, then the lids sank to half-mast. Bitter salt filled his mouth, and he swallowed it hungrily, sucking it and doing his damnedest to coax every drop from the living fountain.

"See? Not exactly torture, was it?" Riddick said when Batty was completely limp. "Far as I know, I never gave a guy his first orgasm before."

"A very intense sensation," Roy replied. He blinked several times. "I will attempt to duplicate it by manual means." Batty wasn't slow, even if he had been kept in the dark about sexuality. "But, in what way do _you _derive satisfaction?" He studied Riddick's cock as if commiting it to memory. "May I be permitted to do that for you?"

"Sure, if you want to try it. I gotta warn you though--I'm not as quiet as you were."

In a short time after they traded places, Riddick realized that either Roy was shining him on about his lack of experience, or he was one hell of a fast learner. He groaned. Roy glanced up. Paused. "It's okay. I told you, I'm not that quiet. You're doing great. Don't stop." Riddick gave himself over to the exquisite sensations Roy's mouth was creating. It was a luxury to be able to enjoy sex without having to worry about lockdown or getting screwed in another sense of the word.

Batty nodded. Riddick felt him swallow, could tell Roy was breathing through his nose, evenly and without struggling. The blonde head began to nod, slowly, so that his soft palate caressed the head of Riddick's cock. Okay, the replicant would definitely win if they played poker, but at this game, there was no need to be stone-faced. Riddick bared his teeth and sucked in deep breaths as the other man continued to fellate him. "Oh yeah, that's amazing," he complimented Roy. "Ahhh--!" Words failed him. There was only blazing sensation and a desire for the pleasure to last forever.

If only it could...they'd had two stolen days, then Roy announced he had a meet-up scheduled with some of his peers. Riddick accompanied him, curious about the replicants' underground Batty was organizing, and hoping that they could get it on some more when that business was concluded...


	3. Bleeding Heart

_**Three: Bleeding Heart**_

Kaz wished he'd gotten more antacids. Not for his patient, for himself. After three days of living on coffee and convenience food, his stomach was sour, and he was starting to twitch at loud noises. Even during his brief naps, he kept starting awake in the ergonomic chair he was dozing in, thinking he heard the medtable's alarm going off. (About half of the time, he actually did.)

This wasn't working as well as he'd anticipated. The rejuv drugs worked for a while, then something would start failing again. The only reason the guy had lasted this long was because he'd apparantly been programmed with the consititution of a horse...and because Kaz had originally been told to prepare for four patients and he'd gone for mega-redundancy, figuring he could always sell the surplus. Not that Kaz was about to say it to Riddick, who was getting edgier by the hour from lack of sleep, but if he'd had to deal with three more of these cases, simultaneously, they'd all be dead by now. This one patient was sucking down an alarming amount of prodigiously expensive pharmaceuticals, and the meditech dreaded having to tell Riddick they'd need more soon. And other things, but the rejuv drugs were the biggie.

He had a shopping list printed out; how Riddick obtained the items on it he really didn't want to know. Somehow, Kaz knew the felon would come through with the drugs, though. The big man seemed devoted to his patient...it seemed contrary to everything he'd heard about the guy, but he was finding out that as scary as he was, Riddick had human feelings. He wondered what the story was: did this guy have the key to a big score, was he a talent Riddick needed to pull some special job? Whatever it was, the patient was on the receiving end of millions of credits worth of meds and equipment, so it must be a major coup.

During his residency, Kaz had witnessed numerous loved ones of terminal patients who spent huge amounts of time with individuals who had little or no awareness of their surroundings. The survivors showered as much love and affection on the people the residents referred to as DADKI---dead, and don't know it---as if they were awake and sentient. Watching the notorious Richard B. Riddick showing similar behavior was curiously endearing. He was still physically intimidating, but the medico was fascinated by how much more there was to the felon than his notorious public exploits would lead someone to believe.

His residency was the last time he'd been this damned tired. Kaz blinked awake long enough to look toward the table where Riddick was sitting in lonely vigil over the blonde man, then let himself doze off again, wishing he could sleep as comfortably as the replicant was. Seconds might count; Kaz stayed close.

Roy...the guy's name was Roy...he needed to remember that, because it pissed off Riddick to hear Kaz refer to the patient as "him" too much. "He's got a name!" Riddick had snarled at him a couple of nights ago. Riddick had given him hell about the policy toward replicants. Kaz was pretty sure he'd just been venting; it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it.

Kaz had never even seen a replicant until this fiasco. It was illegal for them to be on Earth beyond a certain length of time...he remembered hearing a news 'zine talking about the development of replicants and how they were shipped off-world within a year of inception or terminated. That permitted programming and training for whatever jobs they'd have off-world, but they weren't allowed to work on Earth. The ban was enforced by special units of police...Kaz yawned and clung to his pillow.

The meditech had the impression that Riddick was the kind of guy who made things happen. Watching him covertly as he stroked Batty's white-blonde hair, or carefully wiped the other man's face only to explode at Kaz moments later, showed how much this situation was frustrating him.

Probably no one else in the galaxy would believe Riddick was capable of such tenderness. Kaz marveled at the big man's gentle manner when the replicant was its focus. When he ventured to ask what the attraction was, the felon shrugged. "Never met anybody like him before," he'd said, his hand covering Roy's lax one. "You can't see it with him like this, but he's got this...energy. Like a walking, talking bolt of lightning, only it shines out of his eyes. They're the bluest eyes you ever saw. And he's smart--"

Riddick continued to speak about how intelligent Roy was, but Kaz had gotten caught by what he'd said about the replicant's eyes. "_The bluest eyes you ever saw..._" That sounded like something from a love-struck teenager, not the galaxy's most-wanted criminal. Disappointment clutched him. He'd pinned his hopes on the replicant as a criminal-type partner, not a lover... Kaz admitted privately that one of his reasons for taking on this assignment, aside from the money, was purely lustful. He had a preference for big, well-built guys...and Riddick was all that.

"I know what you're thinking." Riddick interrupted Kaz's thoughts.

"Who, me?" Kaz started. The big guy couldn't know Kaz had what amounted to a crush on him. _Of course, it's not like anything is gonna happen.Hell, I'd probably chicken out even if he did make a pass. And it's not like _I'm _going to! _His heart beat a little faster. Even the idea made him anxious, and he cursed himself for that instinctive reaction.

"Hey, I don't give a rat's ass what you think. Guys, chicks--whatever. Bend 'em over and it doesn't really make a lot of difference."

The response Kaz wanted to make stayed locked behind his teeth. He didn't believe, as he observed Riddick fussing over Batty, that that was just about sex. He must've been a little crazy to begin with, to take on this job in the first place. The tech felt a curious helplessness, combined with a sense of challenge. Originally, the assignment was a way to show off his technical skills and catch Riddick's attention. Now it was looking more like life or death--his.

There were only two standard doses of the rejuv drugs left; Kaz gave Riddick the shopping list and the felon left, a determined expression on his face. When the door closed behind him, Kaz threw the locks and stood thinking. It crossed his mind that he could flee while Riddick was gone; this wasn't going to pan out as he'd hoped--but stubborn pride in his own abilities kept him on duty beside the unconscious man. _Besides, dummy, he'd find you. And what would happen then would make your worst nightmares look like happily-ever-after..._

There was another crisis; Kaz shot the last of the rejuv chemicals into Batty, aware that if anything happened before Riddick returned with a fresh supply, their heroic efforts would all be for nothing. But, he thought, with desperate optimism, the attacks were growing less severe and were occuring farther and farther apart. Maybe the guy--Roy, Kaz corrected himself--Roy might have a chance...

The gym was windowless; they'd been boarded over long ago, leaving the room a big, dark cavern, illuminated now by the ring of SunRG1250s. Three other Life Support Tables waited in vain outside the brightly-lit circle--they'd been shunted aside when Riddick informed him that he would only have one patient. The other replicants Roy had escaped with had been terminated while Riddick was tracking down the medico in Vegas and rounding up the supplies for their endeavor. From his employer's tone, this was the one he cared most about.

_Oh, shit, no,_ Kaz thought in despair as the warning tone shrilled the numbers going bad, alarmingly bad, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Riddick would come back to find a cooling corpse and go apeshit on him. _He's gonna die, I'm gonna die--damn, it was looking so good... _His breath caught as the readout stopped plummeting. He stared at it, breathing shallowly until he realized he was getting light-headed. "Come on, Roy," he pleaded. "Hang in there. Please, please, pretty please, God, please?"

The digital flickered, blipped up a fraction. "Yeah, that's it...you're beautiful...go, baby, go!" he cheered as it slowly but steadily climbed back toward normal. Batty's system was fighting back on its own. Without the drugs, with nothing but his own natural immune system...okay, boosted a little, but maybe, just maybe...

Long hours passed with no further alarms...days and nights of zero sleep took their toll. When Riddick returned, Kaz's head lolled back and he was snoring, lost in a delightful dream about a mermaid he was treating for chlorine toxicosis. On the nearby table, Roy rested peacefully as his lover swatted the medic on one shoulder.

"Hey, you're sleeping on the job."

Blinking owlishly, Kaz fished his glasses out of the breast pocket of his lab coat and settled them in place. "How'd it go?" _Of course he got in without knocking...this is Riddick, remember?_

"I found most of the stuff you asked for. He's looking better," Riddick said as he inspected their patient.

"He had two more attacks while you were gone," Kaz told him. "The second time, he came back without intervention."

"That's good, right? So, is he out of the woods? Is he gonna make it?"

"It's a good sign," Kaz said cautiously, "but keep in mind, that these are some serious drugs we've been feeding him. Usually one dose, two at the outside, is all anyone needs. Roy's had sixteen hits of the stuff, and he's stable for now. And the only reason we had that much on hand was because I was shopping for four and I doubled the max dose on all four as a precaution."

"Good job." The felon looked him up and down. "I wasn't sure if you'd still be here when I got back," he commented.

Kaz squirmed, aware he didn't deserve the praise. "I couldn't abandon my patient," he protested. _Or my paycheck. This is going to set me up real nice on Oasis...at least I'll have that much to show for all this._

"Y'know, it's been bugging the hell out of me, the way you've called Roy 'he' and 'him' and 'the patient'. But you've worked your ass off keeping him alive; if being impersonal about him helps you save his life, then I don't have any room to beef."

"It's the first thing you learn during residency," Kaz shrugged. "Having a bleeding heart over a patient down't help anybody."

"Look, Kaz, if things go bad...you tried. That doesn't mean you can relax, but...you're doin' a good job."

"Thanks." The compliment was a relief. "If he remains stable for 48 hours, we can go ahead with phase two. That is, if you still want to."

Riddick gazed down at Roy and smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."


	4. Phase Two

_**Four: Phase Two**_

"I told you, Kaz--it's the only way to get him off-world without arousing suspicion." Riddick wasn't sure if the younger man was stalling for medical reasons, or because he privately objected to the procedure. Which wasn't likely, since that was how he'd tracked Kaz down to begin with--his contacts pointed him to Vegas, where Kaz was THE man to go to for gender-benders, working out of the Monarch hotel.

Okay, so he hadn't actually confided this part of his scheme to Roy...which he could chalk up to short-term memory loss on Roy's part...besides, it really was the perfect escape plan, short of 'jacking another shuttle. He'd snagged first class bogus ID's for both of them, and he was anxious to see the end product of his planning.

Two days had never been a longer eternity, not even doing hard time. By the time Kaz reluctantly announced that the replicant might survive further pharmacological enhancement, Riddick was taut as razor wire. As he watched Kax prepare the necessary drugs, Riddick quizzed him relentlessly.

"This is gonna work, right? It's undetectable?"

"Is it perfect? No. An MRI is gonna show skeletal anomalies, unless you want to lie low for a year while the underlying structure changes. But off-world passport controls does a fast gene read--and what you see is what you get."

"They said you were the best at this. How many times have you done it?"

"Once," Kaz said absently.

"_What_?" Riddick roared. "What about those broads in Vegas? They told me you were the king of the goddamned Strip!"

Kaz went scarlet. "I meant..._I've _only done it once. Myself. Me, personally."

Riddick was scowling at him. "How many times have you done it as a doctor?" he growled.

"A few hundred by now," Kaz said, waving a hand dismissively. His cheeks were still pink. "Hell, one of my regulars goes back and forth every other month, and I've been doing him for...about three years. I've been specializing in this exclusively for almost four years, and you get a _lot _of gender-benders in Vegas."

"And it's completely reversible?"

"Yes!" His answer was so heartfelt that Riddick chuckled in spite of himself. "Look, I tried it once because I thought it would help me understand my patients better, and other stupid reasons. I don't--I didn't--look, let's just get this done, if you're sure that's what you want."

Riddick watched the younger man, whose hands weren't quite steady as he drew the dose out of the ampule he held. "You really don't want to do this, do you? Is it a bad idea medically? You said he's stable."

"Yeah, for now he is, but his physiology...look, I had no idea how difficult this was going to be, Riddick. I thought, hell, knock the toxins out of his system and rejuv him and he'd be back on line PDQ. This has taken days longer than I was expecting, and I swear to God, I don't know what side effects the Regrestrogen process is going to have in conjunction with all the other crap I've pumped into him."

Having Roy undergo a sex change was the perfect disguise to get him off-world, and Riddick had congratulated himself for thinking of it. He'd even acquired a passport for "Henroietta Betancourt-Braddock". "If we don't do it, he's liable to wind up with blade runners on his ass again. I can't let that happen."

"As long as you understand there's a real risk," Kaz looked worriedly at him, all wide-eyed, hypospray in his hand. "Because if anything goes wrong, rejuv is not an option. Call it too much of a good thing. Rejuv drugs work to purge aging cells and essentially reset the body's clock to its peak. The drugs we're using for the change are doing some pretty drastic things on an even deeper lever. We're talking chromosomes, here. Combining the two would potentially retard cell regeneration and kick off a lot of problems I don't know how to go about fixing. Hopefully, we won't need anything. Roy's holding his own."

"Then do it."

Biting his lip, Kaz lined up the pneumatic hypo and pressed the dispenser. "That's it. We're committed."

"Hell," said Riddick, dead pan. "I've been committed plenty of times. What's one more?" But his gaze went to the man lying on the table, and he reached out to take Batty's lax hand.

While he stood there, the fugitive found himself closer to prayer than he'd been in decades. The nuns had tried to beat God into him for years at the orphanage; when they'd finally given up and fed him into the social services system, he'd gladly given God up for dead. Of course, the bastard wouldn't leave him alone; whatever Power controlled the universe loved to fuck with him--usually, Riddick fucked back, but right now, a cosmic "Come on, give me a break!" echoed in the depths of his being.

_No. No begging. It wouldn't do any good. Either Roy makes it, or--_ "When is something going to happen?" Riddick demanded. "How do we know it's working?"

"It's working. And when that--" He pointed to one of the readouts "--gets down to 100 exactly, he gets the next shot. Patience, Riddick. It's _not _instantaneous!"

For a guy who barely came up to his chin, Riddick thought the medico had a lot of grit. Kaz had been occupying a penthouse suite in Vegas when Riddick tracked him down, surrounded by beautiful people who were availing themselves of his services. Most of the suite was being used as an illicit clinic; the bellhop he'd bribed confided that most of the hotel's top two floors were occupied by Kaz's patients at any given time. A biohazard disposal service was a routine vendor of theirs. _So the little twerp must be pretty good at what he does... _"It doesn't look like anything's happening!"

Kaz pointed at one of the graphs on the display. "_That's _happening. This is a three-part procedure, and nothing visible _should _happen until midway through stage two. What this is doing...it enables us to unlock the cells, but we have to wait for it to multiply itself for all the cells."

"Like turning off a burglar alarm."

"Good analogy. That's exactly right, except that this system is going to take a lot longer to disarm. Then we use the genetic equivalent of a skeleton key to unlock the female chromosome, and we turn the knob that'll open the door and let us in. In the bad old days, gender reassignment involved surgical butchery and it was a one-way ticket. It was crude. It lacked finesse." Kaz was gesturing with more animation than Riddick expected. "The Regrestrogen process changed all that. We can alter an individual's gender at the chromosomal level by exploiting the genetic fact that all embryos begin as female--"

And on, and on... Riddick was willing to exploit it, he just didn't feel a need to hear all the hows and whys. He nodded as Kaz emphasized a point. Kaz was starting to look better and better. He'd tried the process once? _Bet he was a cute little lady...like--who the hell does he remind me of? _The pheromones Kaz gave off were mostly nervous, but every once in a while, Riddick kept getting a whiff of something else, like maybe, just maybe, Kaz was checking him out. _Either I'm dreaming, or he's too closeted to show it. _

"Look at it as a physiological yin-yang," Kaz said earnestly. "Everything male corresponds to something female, but the hormones the embryo received during fetal development destined it to develop as male. We can reprogram the structure of DNA to reverse the process and let the double-X chromosome dominate."

"What was it like?" _Maybe I can rattle him a little, see what makes him tick. _

Kaz stopped in mid-sentence. "What?"

"What was it like...seeing how the other half lives. Being a woman. Tell me about it. Did you enjoy it?" _Maybe I should do him and get it out of my system so I won't be all distracted when Roy comes out of it._

He hadn't expected Kaz to go pale at the question, but the rogue medico was staring at him. Each freckle stood out sharply on his thin, angular face. "Sometimes." His hazel eyes flitted away to the display, not looking at Riddick, and there was a sudden quivering tension in his slight form. "I got used to seeing a girl in the mirror, and going into the women's restroom, and putting on makeup. But I never did get used to having tits. I always felt top-heavy. I had _one _menstrual cycle--" A blush crept onto his face "--and it completely freaked me out. It's one thing to read about what normal is in a textbook--it's something else when you're the one bleeding and cramping. I was terrified..." He stopped, his face scarlet, freckles obliterated by pink.

"Why'd you do it?" Riddick was curious. He couldn't imagine wanting to be other than what he was...he privately admitted that that was the primary reason he hadn't told Roy the whole plan. _It's a good plan, _he defended himself, _but there's no fucking way I'd let anyone do it to me. So I've gotta wonder, does this shrimp have more guts than me, or is he just a freak?_

"Well, there was this girl. And she was hot. Really, really hot." Kaz smiled at the memory of the hot girl. "I got to know her, and I found out she was a lesbian. And I thought, what the hell..."

Riddick raised an eyebrow. _Okay, so that's how he really swings._ "Did it work?"

"Nah. It turned out I wasn't her type."

Kaz still had rosy pink cheeks, but he seemed more relaxed, and Riddick ventured another question. "Did you try making it with a guy, as a girl?"

"I'm not going to talk about that." His tone went cold, sounding angry.

"I need to know!" Riddick wanted to shake the other man. "For Roy's sake..."

"You _don't _need to know about that!" Kaz snapped, his voice higher than usual. "You don't!" He shook his head violently. "Roy's okay. Just let me alone for a while, okay?" He spun on his heel, and Riddick followed his progress toward the locker room with a puzzled scowl. He wasn't scenting anger--the pheromones Kaz was giving off were rich with fear.


	5. Coming Clean

Warning: This chapter contains scenes of violence and rape.

_**

* * *

Five: Coming Clean**_

The old building had good water pressure and the water heater was efficient. Kaz let the scalding water pelt him, wishing he could wash his thoughts away as easily. Riddick's questions dredged up horrors he'd spent the last two years burying. It didn't help that he was exhausted from the medical marathon that was Roy Batty; it was well over a week since he'd had more than a couple stolen hours of sleep. He was tired and vulnerable, and it triggered older memories of vulnerability.

The idea of being a woman making love to another woman was sexy. Most of Kaz's previous erotic experiences were with his own sex, and technically, if you crossed out the male-to-female patients he'd laid, he'd only slept with one natural-born girl. When he'd decided to become Kazi and pursue the girl he was attracted to, many of his regular patients were delighted to offer their expertise in passing as female.

The first couple of weeks after undergoing his own gender-bender were like being at a spa, as one of his ladies or another lavished him with facials and manicures and pampering. Being turned down by Bokelia hadn't deterred the optimistic Kaz. After all, he'd spent a good chunk of his own money on the process and suffered through the change, so he might as well explore his feminine side. Being cute and flirtatious was easy--he was just doing it in a different package this time. After two years of doing 'benders on everyone else, Kaz knew the lingo, the "bent" pronouns, the slang his clientele used--this was going to be a delightful adventure and help him relate to his patients better.

Shalimar dragged hir out on a pub-crawl from end of the Strip to the other. She disappeared with some guy around the fourth place, and Kazi figured it was time for last call--time to head home. Alone--apparently, Kaz would've stood a better chance of hooking up in this particular dive than Kazi would.

There weren't any taxis out front at the moment, so Kazi decided to walk for a block or two. Hesh'd had a couple drinks--not that hesh was drunk, no, not really...it was just so darn tricky to walk in these silly shoes. Cute though. Cute little red shoes with hir sparkly red toenails peeking out...a tight red latex skirt that squeezed hir ass and thighs like a rubber glove. The black satin halter top accentuated more cleavage than Kaz had ever expected to acquire, and showed hir abs to advantage. Okay, so the wavy blonde hair was borrowed...

Drifting down the street in a happy fog of screwdrivers and dance tunes, Kazi didn't hear or see anything until they were all around hir. Four of them, young, their faces streaked with painted tribal designs, dragging hir through into a boarded over construction site and tearing off hir pretty clothes...

Sudden violent intrusion into an intimate place...dry, tearing pain...the fear that they were going to kill or maim hir...the heart-stopping moment when one of the tribals yanked savagely at hir hair during fellatio and the whole thing came away in his hand. They'd guessed, then, what Kazi really was, and it had spurred them to even more vicious efforts.

When the construction foreman found hir shortly after dawn, Kazi was in shock, huddled naked in a corner, covered with bruises and still seeping blood and semen from both ends. The last thing the foreman wanted was an incident that might bring the police in to investigate; the financing for the project was of questionable legality. Kazi had no desire for anyone else to find out what had happened to hir. Kazi exchanged hir silence for a chunk of credits, a pair of baggy coveralls and a taxi back to the Monarch.

The tiny scrap of a purse hesh'd carried turned up near the site's fence with contents intact--the tribals had somehow overlooked it--so hesh still had the keycard to hir suite. Creeping back into the penthouse, Kazi cancelled everything hesh'd had scheduled for the next four days and tried to convince hirself that this wasn't the worst that could happen. Hesh was still alive, wasn't hesh? Not permanently damaged...at least not after doses of every anti-viral agent Kaz knew of.

Kaz moaned, hugging himself in the spray of the shower. Physically, he didn't show any signs of that night, but he hadn't had sex since, not in either body, with anyone. Resuming his gender-bending career only because he didn't know what else to do, he'd barely left the hotel since; the management of the Monarch/Las Vegas was perfectly happy to get him whatever he asked for. He longed to get off-world, away from Vegas, from Earth, away to some place where the colonists were just as eager for quiet civilization as he was.

_This is going to do it. Riddick's payout is going to get me out of this cesspool for good..._

Swaying with fatigue, he turned off the water. _I'm only twenty-eight, _he told himself._ I used to be able to stay up for two or three days on no sleep at all...what happened? _Wearing nothing but a towel wound around his waist, he stepped out of the shower to find Riddick standing there.

The brawny felon was nude. Kaz backed up instinctively. Riddick closed the distance, and before Kaz could protest, Riddick yanked the towel away. Kaz whimpered, but the other man surprised him. Instead of forcing himself on Kaz, Riddick began toweling his slender body dry with crisp efficiency. It felt good, and Kaz was weary enough not to demur. He scarcely noticed that he was being maneuvered away from the showers into the changing area. Riddick had one arm around him in a rough embrace. As the absorbent material buffed his damp skin, Kaz hazily snuggled against the bigger man, his initial terror giving way to enjoyment of the brisk sensation...

Until he got a look at the bench that sported a padding of clean towels. He froze, but Riddick had him face-down before he could react. "Stop!" he screamed, struggling futilely as Riddick climbed on top of him. "Don't! Don't hurt me!"

Riddick straddled his upper thighs, and Kaz was excruciatingly aware of the other man's cock against his buttocks. "Hurt you?" Riddick repeated. He leaned forward, his voice soothing. "I'm not going to hurt you, Kaz. I need you. Roy needs you. You...need to relax." His fingers dug into the muscles of Kaz's shoulders, which were hunched up defensively as a turtle's. With some vestige of self-preservation, he realized that Riddick wasn't aroused. What he was doing wasn't aimed at sex; he was patiently working knots of tension out of Kaz, his knuckles grinding into the tight muscles...

Strong hands...but surprisingly gentle. Riddick massaged his shoulders, then began to rub his right arm... Not just his biceps; the touch continued all the way down to his fingertips...and was repeated with his left arm. The hands returned to his shoulders...his back...oh God, that was wonderful...Riddick was good at this, his hands firm, not tickling as they plied his lower back... Something that had been clenched for a long time gave an audible pop, and Kaz sighed, surrendering to pleasure.

Even when the weight above him shifted and the powerful hands started kneading his buttocks, Kaz lay basking in warm bliss. The other man's caresses lingered. Caresses, yes, that was the right word...felt good as those fingers probed his muscles...not hurting him, not trying to open him...next to receive attention were his thighs...his calves...thumbs ground with knowing pressure into his tight tendons...ankles...when Riddick grasped his left foot and began to flex his toes, the sensation was so delicious that Kaz moaned happily. He summoned up a fleeting moment of coherence. "Roy..."

"What?" Riddick stopped, listening alertly.

"Don't make him wear heels. You can't _run _in heels."

There was a long moment of silence. "I understand." His hands returned to Kaz's insteps, and slowly worked their way back up his body, this time, smoothing a glaze of lotion on the well-scrubbed flesh. Riddick's slick hands on his ass created neither fear nor desire, merely a deeper sense of relaxation. Even though Riddick's greased cock was now semi-erect, he didn't seem inclined to use it, just let it slide back and forth, skin on skin against Kaz, random, teasing strokes. Riddick pressed down with the heels of his hands; another cluster of tension went away...all those muscles...cool lotion...sinewy fingers plying the back of his neck, dancing little circles upon his scalp...there was no tension left in him.

A blanket covered him; in the near-distance, Kaz heard the rusty creak of a shower knob and the sound of running water finished lulling him to sleep.

Blinking awake, it took Kaz a moment to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there. _Wow, it's amazing how much difference a few hours of sleep can make. _According to his watch, still lying on the rim of one of the sinks, he'd been out for just four hours, but Kaz had an incredible sense of well-being as he dug clean clothes out of his duffle. "What are you grinning at?" he asked his reflection as he finished shaving.

Damn, he felt good! Flashing on Riddick's massage, his cock twitched. _I owe him one. But I'm not even sure if that's what he wants or not. He's got pretty-boy Roy...I'm probably not his type. But...maybe...I might not go chickenshit after all..._ He could broach the subject later; right now he had a patient to take care of---although if anything had gone wrong during his nap, he had no doubt Riddick would've hauled him out to the table in his birthday suit to deal with the matter.

At first glance, everything out in the gym was perfectly normal. Riddick was leaning back in his favorite chair as Kaz approached. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I am. Thanks." Kaz did a doubletake as he looked at the endocrine levels. "Jesus Christ!"

"I gave him the second shot when that one got down to 100."

"That's impossible!" For a minute, Kaz thought he was going to hyperventilate. "Four hours is nowhere near long enough--"

Riddick laughed. "_Four _hours? I got news for you, Sleeping Beauty. You were out for _sixteen _hours. I kept an eye on what you said to, waited 'til it hit 100 and shot him up. It's been about two, two and a half hours. If something was wrong, it would show, right?"

Scanning the monitors, Kaz admitted that everything was nominal. The empty vial was still on the work surface, and it was the right one--Riddick hadn't administered the third treatment by mistake--and the readouts didn't lie...

"Oh shit!" he said involuntarily as he dropped the empty into the waste container. There was another empty ampule in there--Kaz recognized the packaging used for rejuv serum after as many hits as he'd dispensed in the last week. "Tell me you didn't give him _that_."

"No." Riddick rose from the chair in a display of tigerish grace. "I didn't. I popped _you _in the ass while you were sleeping and you didn't even twitch."

"Me--?" Kaz stared at up him, mouth hanging open. "You gave me--?" The idea of keeping a dose of the expensive treatment for himself hadn't crossed his mind. Hocking the leftovers for his getaway, sure, but-- "Thank you." It explained the sensation of vitality he felt. And, he thought with sudden optimism, it meant Riddick probably didn't have a secret plan to double-cross him and cut his throat. The Black Market price for that stuff would make anyone think twice about throwing a dose away on someone they were going to dispose of.


	6. Comparisons

**Full-on slash ahead.

* * *

Six: Comparisons **

_Arturo. That was the guy's name. _Riddick nodded to himself. From the beginning, Kaz had reminded him of someone, and the elusive resemblance had finally surfaced. In Slam on Gehenna, he'd been Riddick's cellmate and fuckbuddy... _That _was who Kaz made him think of. Not so much because of looks--Arturo had been darker, some Latino-Pacific Rim mix, while Kaz was a freckle-faced white boy...unless it was the baby-faced quality they both had. They were both slightly built, and the fear Kaz showed in the locker room wasn't any different than the way Arturo looked that afternoon when Riddick whaled on the gang of bulls who'd been pulling a train on him.

Of course, that was where the resemblance ended, Riddick admitted, Kaz being about twenty times smarter than Arturo would ever be. Arturo had been just bright enough to realize that his options were, keep Riddick happy--or, everyone else would make his life hell. Once he'd arrived at that conclusion, he'd been pliant and submissive.

_I don't have that kind of leverage with Kaz. He's got too much else going for him._ Riddick watched the genetech covertly. Kaz was doing something to the table Roy lay on, looking purposeful and confident. _Kinda sexy, actually...all those brains. _

Sure, he was twice the size of the younger man, but Riddick liked the kid enough that he didn't consider force as an option. He reserved that for the people he disliked or had a personal grudge against. It didn't help that Kaz had left the lab coat behind in the locker room; his tee shirt and denims clung to his slender body and since the rejuv shot had kicked in, Riddick could smell tantalizing hormones wafting from the preoccupied Kazminsky.

"How's he doing?" Riddick asked, slipping silently to stand just behind Kaz as he studied the readout. "That doesn't look good."

"I know, but it's normal."

Riddick shook his head. Roy's scrotum seemed to have deflated; Kaz had told him earlier that the testacles had migrated to become the female equivalent, ovaries---of course, being Kaz, he'd used a fifty-dollar word for it: homologous. And Roy's dick...didn't look good, it was off-color, like it had lost circulation, or something.

"I guess you'd know," he said as Kaz straightened up, and made sure he was right there.

Kaz tensed for a moment, then relaxed. _Good._ Riddick enjoyed the small, warm body so close to his. He let his hand curve to mold itself to one of the tight little butt cheeks. Kaz glanced at him over his shoulder, wide-eyed. Riddick stared into bright blue depths for a moment. The younger man turned his face away, then lowered his head slightly and the felon felt moist lips attach themselves to his right nipple. His hand tightened on the warm flesh beneath the softened denim, and he brought his free hand up under Kaz's jawline, pulling his chin up for a kiss.

It was a charged kiss to begin with, then Kaz's right hand found Riddick's crotch. His cock strained in acknowledgement of Kaz's touch, and Riddick covered Kaz's hand with his own. He held it against the erection that wanted to tear through his pants.

When their mouths parted, Kaz blinked at him. "I didn't know I was going to do that," he said huskily. Riddick kissed him again, a short, demanding kiss. "What--what about Roy?"

"What about him?" Riddick asked, squeezing Kaz's hand a little harder against his hard-on. "You and me getting it on doesn't take anything away from Roy." Pheromones of alarm and lust tantalized him...Kaz wanted it and was afraid of it, and Riddick savored that blend. "What are you afraid of, Kaz? You think Roy's going to be jealous?"

"I've heard the stories," Kaz muttered, his mouth wandering against Riddick's pecs. "I heard you fucked somebody to death once."

Correcting him---the actual death toll from that cause was more like five or six---didn't seem likely to achieve the results Riddick wanted. Instead, he opted for a less explicit version of the truth. "That was about fifteen years ago. I've learned a lot since then. Come on, we both know you want to." To prove his point, Riddick let go of Kaz's hand and cupped the bulge in the front of Kaz's denims. "Tell me you don't like that."

"I like that," Kaz admitted, looking up at him again. "And I...do...want to..."

"Okay, then. Trust me, by the time we're done, you'll think it was all your idea." _This time, I'm going nail your cute little ass. You don't know how close you came last night, Sleeping Beauty. Good thing I'm not into necrophilia...much. _

When he finally had Kaz naked on one of the spare Life Support Tables, Riddick rummaged out a tube of medical-grade lube and took his time getting Kaz loosened up. The scent of apprehension was replaced by sexual enjoyment as Riddick's fingers probed intimately between the genetech's buttocks. _Beats the hell out of motor oil..._ Soon the younger man squirmed with pleasure.

"A little lower?" Kaz requested tentatively, and the felon grinned with triumph. _That's it, tell me what you want! _He corkscrewed his fingers, grinding against the prostate gland. Kaz yelped as a spray of semen jetted out of him. He shuddered at the unexpected release and moaned as Riddick continued to delve into the puckered orifice. The rejuv had reset his cock to young and horny; it grew a little less stiff for a few minutes, but Riddick skilfully worked him back to full hardness.

"Just don't hurt me," Kaz said breathlessly as Riddick prepared to mount him. "Please."

Riddick planted a kiss on the nape of his neck. To help equalize the difference in their heights, he had Kaz kneel with his knees together, then Riddick approached him, his muscular calves on either side of Kaz's slim ones. Not only did the tactic line them up better: it had the advantage of pressing the younger man's asscheeks closer together--a snugger fit for Riddick, and it offered a little padding to prevent him from penetrating too forceably.

"Easy," said the big man as Kaz whimpered. "Relax." He guided his rigid prick to the well-lubed hole and began to worm his way in. _Damn, that's tight. Fantastic! _Riddick concentrated on moving with care, not wanting to hurt his partner--or for the experience to end too soon. "Breathe, Kazminsky!"

Beneath him, Kaz yielded himself with little mews of pleasure. Riddick stayed sheathed deeply, his hips moving slowly, excited by the glovelike snugness of the other man's ass as it squeezed his cock. "How's that?" he murmured to Kazminsky, his arm around the other man's narrow waist. With increasing desire, Riddick rode Kaz, coaxing him to a second climax, continuing to rock his hips against the slender rump as Kaz shuddered with orgasm. Riddick fought to stay calm. The sensation was exquisite, and it was all he could do not to rut with all his strength.

As Kaz whined like a bitch, Riddick's hands dug into his shoulders, holding him in place as he began to pump with short thrusts. Kaz made little whimpering noises that excited him..._Too good, damn, I'm not--I can't--I'm gonna... _Ramming his cock home, the sound of Kaz's frantic moans only drove him to greater frenzy. Each squeeze triggered a response in his balls that unleased a fresh need for release. Kaz sobbed aloud, his whole body convulsing under Riddick, jerking against him, as Riddick slammed his pelvis against his partner's tender asscheeks.

When sanity returned, Riddick felt a rush of concern. Kaz was breathing in shallow pants and shivering beneath him. The felon maneuvered on the table so that he was on his back, with Kaz on top clinging to him. Arturo had never held him so fiercely. Sniffing, Riddick didn't scent blood, just raw sex. He patted Kaz's back, concerned that he'd hurt him. Judging by the other man's tremors, their coupling had been traumatic, which wasn't what he'd intended at all. "Kaz? Talk to me. You okay?"

For a minute, Kaz just gazed at him, his eyes not quite focused. Then he giggled. Before Riddick knew what he was going to do, the petite genetech smooched him on the nose, then rubbed his cheek against Riddick's neck kittenishly. "Wow. That was intense. I thought my balls were gonna turn inside out the third time I came."

Riddick relaxed. Arturo had never been affectionate, period. Then Kaz raised his head, reached out slowly, tentatively, and Riddick realized what he was about to do. They were far enough outside the ring of lights that he didn't protest as Kaz lifted his goggles away from his face. All his life, he'd heard gasps when people saw his eyes for the first time. Kaz didn't start, didn't flinch--instead, his lips parted slightly, and he smiled, a sweet smile on his baby face.

"I've read about that, but I've never seen it before," said the genetech admiringly. Read about it? Riddick's brows knotted. No one had ever had an explaination for why his eyes were the way there were. "Kessel modification, right? Adapted to low-light conditions, extreme light sensitivity?"

Kessel was a penal colony on a mining world. Riddick had been sentenced there in absentia once, but he'd never actually gone, much less had any modifications done. "What else do you know about it?" he asked cautiously, trying not to show his ignorance of the subject.

Kaz shrugged. "It's a DNA splice, I don't remember the exact combination of genomes. I read that article ages ago." Then he blinked, and a look of alarm crossed his face. "Gotta go!" he said, and hastily scuttled toward the locker room.

Riddick watched him bolt bare-assed for the toilets, walking funny. _So--if it's DNA spliced, and I was born with it, that means I inherited it from someone who had it done. Like father, like son, maybe? Like maybe the sperm donor was some scumbag convict...which would explain why I wound up in a dumpster at birth. Who'd want a little bastard like that?_ He closed his eyes. _Two minutes just shed light on thirty-six years of mystery...why do I feel so crappy about it?_

When Kaz covered Riddick with a light blanket, he didn't say anything. _Let him think I conked out. He's happy; no use bringing him down to my level..._ He'd conked out, he realized after an indeterminate length of time. _What was bugging me? Oh, yeah. Eyes. Kessel. Thanks, dad._

Hauling himself off the table, Riddick pulled his pants back on and settled his goggles back in place. He walked over to Roy's area, where Kaz, fully-dressed, was working a sudoku puzzle on his handheld. The genetech looked happy to see him, so the felon figured that he hadn't traumatized the guy too badly after all. He glanced toward Roy, and stopped dead.

"We can wake her up any time you're ready," said Kaz quietly. Riddick couldn't take his eyes off Batty; during the course of his nap, the replicant had sprouted a respectable pair of tits...but what ready floored Riddick was the total absence of a penis. It hadn't just shrunk, like his balls--wait a minute, no balls, either... "Female, just like you asked for. I told you, what you see is what you get..."

"But what about--what about--where the hell did it all go?" he demanded, and Kaz fought unsuccessfully to keep a smirk from his face.

"There's a stage in the procedure called 'tearaway'. It's performed manually. And if you think that's just wrong, try doing it to yourself some time."

"Not for a billion dollars and a full pardon," said Riddick, shaking his head. "So, what now?"

"We wake up Sleeping Beauty and see if she bites our heads off."


	7. Feeling No Pain

_**Seven: Feeling No Pain**_

Silver rain and a flutter of wings. Pain that threatened to topple him from a great height. Neon/halogen haze of the city by night and a man's face, terrified... _I was cold and wet and dying. I don't think I'm dead. I'm warm and dry... _

There were voices nearby. Two men, one whose voice was soft, slightly nasal...the other sounded like two granite blocks striking together. _Do I know them? Either of them? _"Why isn't he waking up, Kaz?" growled the granite voice.

"You might want to practice saying 'she'," suggested the other voice.

_I don't understand... Where am I? Are these Tyrell's people? Tyrell is dead by my hand. He said there was no way to correct the replication failure. I'm not in pain any more, I feel strong. How can this be?_

"The EEG reads like she's awake," said the softer voice. _What is he talking about? She? Pris! But she's--she's dead, isn't she? Do I really remember that? Did I paint myself with her blood and shed tears for her, or was that a nightmare I had in the rain...?_

"Roy? Can you hear me?" The granite voice was close, close enough to be taken out--but not without more information. _Is this a Tyrell facility?_ Roy sniffed surreptitiously. The smells were antiseptic, medicinal...with a whiff of onions and underlaid faintly by mustiness. _No. Not Tyrell. Someplace improvised..._. Improvised? That seemed as if it should mean something. "Come on, Roy. Snap out of it. We got you fixed up."

That wasn't possible, was it? A moment of focusing on the flesh that contained the spirit, and one of the cryptic comments suddenly made sense. Something was missing. _How can my penis be missing? What have they done to me--and why?_

'Yup, she's awake," said the softer voice, sounding pleased. "Hello, Roy. My name is Kazminsky. Your friend Riddick hired me to try to regenerate your systemic failure. It's looking pretty good." _Tyrell said that was impossible. Either he lied, at the cost of his life, or this man Kazminsky is a genius. I'm going to live? Even if he's only bought me a few more years, that is still an incredible gift... _

"Don't worry about the gender reversal," continued Kazminsky, and Roy concentrated intently. "It's a way to get you off Earth incognito, and it's completely reversable."

"Why isn't he waking up?" the second voice demanded. "I though you said that shit you gave him would fix the memory in his hippopotamus."

Memory? Hippopotamus--? "Hippocampus," Roy said involuntarily. _Well, that did it. No point in trying to eavesdrop now._

Squinting at the bright lights ringing the surface on which Roy lay showed two men. One wore a lab coat--Kazminsky?--and barely came up to the chin of the other man. The second man was shirtless and impressively well-muscled. _Definitely not Tyrell personnel. Their precious dress code would never permit such a thing. _He looked as if he belonged to the granite voice. _Mr. Riddick, I presume?_

"There you are," said the granite-voiced man--he _was _the larger of the two, and Roy felt obscurely pleased at having guessed correctly.

"Where am I?"

"We're still in L.A. We didn't have time to move you. I 'jacked your body from the morgue before they could do an autopsy and brought you here to Kaz." Riddick glanced over at the smaller man, who smiled. "It's been almost two weeks. It took a while to get everything stable." An aside to Kaz "You want to explain that part?"

Kazminsky explained the various drugs he'd applied to counter one failing organ or another, with a mild emphasis on the unholy cost of the rejuv drugs that had been used unstintingly. _Meant to make me feel grateful to them, hence obligated. That is an error on their part._

As Roy struggled to sit up, feeling weiredly disembodied, Kazminsky activated the table support, which obligingly raised the replicant to a sitting position. Beyond the area where the three of them were clustered, other tables could be seen.

"Where are the others?" Roy asked urgently. "Pris and --" _And? Pris and --? Faces, I remember faces--but not their names._ This was frightening, tragic...

Riddick's expression was somber. "Six of us came down on the shuttle. I was the pilot. You told me to set up this place as a last resort, in case you couldn't get help from Tyrell."

"The others?" Roy whispered. The sense of dread was sickening.

"You told me Merle got killed trying to get into Tyrell." _We tried to infiltrate their perimeter._ Laser flash, and Merle's screams... Roy's heart raced at the memory. "We were leaving messages for each other at a bar called Toujours. You said Zhora and Leon got taken out by blade runners. Pris hooked up with somebody who was going to get you in to see Tyrell himself."

More memory flashes: a young-old man, mechanical toys, chasing another man through a labyrinth of broken rooms... "You asked me to meet you at the Bradbury Building. When I got there, the place was surrounded by emergency vehicles. They carried out Pris, and a while later, they brought you out. I 'jacked a porta-freeze and bribed a morgue attendant into releasing your body to me. And here we are."

Zhora...Leon...now names matched the faces Roy remembered. In a way, that made it hurt more. "You were the pilot..." Roy murmured, and a flicker of the flight came through, the shuddering atmospheric reentry and the big man's face illuminated satanically by the red glow of the viewscreen. "You're one of us."

"Jesus Christ," said Riddick, sounding impatient. "We've already had this conversation once. I'm _not _a replicant. Kaz, I thought you fixed his memory."

"I told you the short-term looked scatty," Kazminsky replied, defensive. "You were willing to settle for alive, now you want miracles? Hello, she's alive, awake and coherent, I'd say break out the champagne, but that's probably not a good idea until she's worked her way up to solid food."

Being continually referred to as "she" was disconcerting enough that Roy almost didn't notice the edge to Kazminsky's tone. There was an undertone of hurt, and the replicant surmised its cause. "I thank you for my life," Roy said with sincerity. "Tyrell himself told me that it was impossible for my life to be renewed, so I can only conclude that you have performed a miracle. You have my deepest gratitude."

Kazminsky shook the hand Roy extended. "You're welcome, but there's the guy you should be thanking." He nodded at Riddick.

Roy gave the big man a searching look. "Why have you done this for me?"

"We hooked up on Stromberg and I said I'd pilot you guys down because your situation was seriously fucked up. I don't give a damn if you're a replicant or not--a life sentence when you didn't do anything criminal? That's bullshit."

"Thank you." Roy tried to find more words, but they weren't there. Something, anything to fill the awkward silence as they all stared at one another... "Am I really female?"

"According to a gene-scan, yes." That was Kazminsky; brisk and clinical. "The skeletal structure won't finish adapting for nearly a year, but you've had a fertility inhibitor so that shouldn't be a problem."

"I could bear children?" The thought was intriguing.

"It's been done. It's not advisable until the pelvic reconfiguration has stabliziled. The implant I gave you is good for one standard year. If you wait longer than that to reverse the procedure, be absolutely sure that whoever does the reversal does a pregnancy scan first. Even if you're 99 certain. Otherwise, there can be some really ugly, fatal complications. Trust me on this one."

Roy was disoriented. Nothing seemed to fit. Rounded breasts surmounted the trim pectorals, felt heavy and tender. The pubic hair was as white-blonde as it had always been, but there was a cleft below it instead of a penis. There was no pain, but it seemed defenseless, somehow. Even looking at the hand which had had a nail driven through it was unreal; the wound had healed to a whitish splotch of scar-tissue, and the hand was no longer clawed with tremors. Its nails had grown out, giving it an unfamilar elegance.

"Everything is normal, Roy," Kaz reassured.

"He should know," Riddick added gruffly. "That's his specialty."

What a curious thing to specialize in. Roy wasn't sure what to make of Kazminsky. It was all very unsettling; these two strangers, grief for the dead, a second chance at life in what amounted to a new body...which felt strange. Uncomfortable. Shaky-cold, nerves stretched taut and an insistant pressure. "I need to use the toilet."

Riddick paced outside the metal cubical. Roy could hear his boots scuffing on the tiles. A lighter step advanced into the room, and Kazminsky said, "I'm going to start packing up. You don't need me any more." An undertone to his voice was brusque; Roy wondered why.

"You can't go yet."

"Why not? Medically--" Riddick's answer was short--all Roy heard was a low growl before Kazminsky replied: "That's what you wanted." This time his tone was amused.

"Kaz--dammit!"

Roy slide the bolt as quietly as it allowed, and eased opened the door to find Kazminsky embracing Riddick in a sculpture of mouths pressed together and hands grasping. _By the looks of it, a naked woman is neither required nor desired..._

Returning to the solitude of the cubical, Roy studied the woman in the mirror intently. _I can't imagine that this will impede my abilities as a soldier. In fact, it may give me an edge. So many people underestimate a woman's ruthlessness. Of course, none of them ever knew Zhora._ Roy smiled. _Perhaps they've done me a second favor, in addition to saving my life. _

When the hungry noises outside the stall gave way to quiet conversation, Roy exited ostentatiously. This time, Riddick and Kazminsky were holding one another, but without the urgent kissing and groping they'd displayed earlier. Now Roy understood the mixed signals Kaz had been giving off...he viewed Roy as a rival. _How interesting. They both are. Pris said sex could be unpleasant, but if it is my choice--? Perhaps when I've had more opportunity to become accustomed to this body..._

"Where are we going to go from here?" Roy asked, and was quietly amused by the numerous meanings the question had.


	8. Going in Style

_**Eight: Going in Style**_

When the front desk clerk at the Monarch Hotel (Los Angeles) swiped the card Kaz gave him, his eyes went wide and he practically drooled. "Mr. Kazminsky, it's an honor to have you here, sir--our Regency suite is occupied at the moment, may I offer you the Palatial Suite?"

Kaz pretended to consider the offer, then nodded. "That will be adequate," he acknowledged. "My friends, the Betancourt-Braddocks will be my guests."

If he'd strolled in with a couple of coatimundis on a leash, it was clear that the Monarch staff would have googled to find out what to add to their room service menu. Two humans, no matter how scruffily dressed, were of incidental concern. The flustered attendant didn't even check their identification. _Note to self, send Gruber at the Vegas Monarch a fat bonus. Whatever he noted on my account, it's worth a mint. _

When they got up to the suite, Roi and Riddick stared around at the luxurious quarters, to Kaz's private amusement. When the Monarch said palatial, they meant it. He'd had the Regency penthouse in Vegas, which was bigger than the Palatial, but less ornate. They hadn't kicked that he'd slowly converted it into a clinic--as he watched Riddick appraise a gilt-framed oil painting---probably wondering how much he could get for it---Kaz thought about his "practice", and wondered if he really had the nerve to go off-world.

During one of the long nights tending Roy, he'd told Riddick about his plans to go to Oasis--from what he'd heard, it was like Vegas on a grand scale, without the riff-raff. Riddick had a familiarity with the system--one of the planets, Gehenna was a penal colony--and they talked about his familiarity with it. Stygia was a domed mining colony. Eden was as pastoral as its name, it had a primarily agriculture-based economy, and Oasis was the major resort destination in the Twelve Systems. If there was an off-world market for what he did best, Oasis was the place.

Did he really have the guts? Kaz agonized. Sure, some of his memories of Vegas weren't all happy-fuzzy, but he'd made a name for himself there. So? He was damn good at what he did, he could make a name for himself anywhere, couldn't he?

"I've never seen anything like this," Roi breathed. Although she was wearing a pair of Riddick's coveralls (which strained to contain her voluptuous breasts), her voice was a soft alto with its charming accent, and Kaz had noticed her flirting with the bellhop on the way up. With a decent haircut and the right clothes, she'd be a knockout.

"I guess they're hoping I'll bring in the same volume of business here as I did in Vegas," Kaz shrugged. "Hello, room service?" He gave specific orders for their dinner; Roi was working her way back to solid food, he was starving for anything that wasn't noodles or tortillas... "--You want anything?" he asked Riddick, who grinned.

"The biggest steak they've got, rare, smothered in onions. Home fries. Beer."

"They're your arteries."

Full and relaxed, Kaz napped briefly in one of the bedrooms, but between the recent rejuv and the habits of the sickroom, after a couple hours he was alert and ready for action. Roi was in the main room, seated primly on the sofa as she watched the Style channel intently. No sign of Riddick. Kaz walked quietly around her to the other bedroom, opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

The room was completely dark, the drapes drawn shut. Kaz took a couple hesitant steps, trying to get a sense of where the bed was.

"Are you gonna stand there all night?" asked Riddick. "Come to bed, sweetheart."

Sweetheart? Kaz felt his heart plummet. _Great. He thinks it's Roi._ Retreating before he made a complete fool of himself might be a good idea.

"KazMINsky! Will you get your cute little ass over here?"

Kaz grinned, moving cautiously to his left until he bumped into the bed, then climbed in. Riddick welcomed him warmly, stripping away the loose pants he'd worn to sleep in and rubbing against him, full-length.

"Cute enough for you?" Kaz asked cheerfully. _I forgot, he can see in the dark. Sweetheart! Yeah, and I'm about to get lucky... _

Even in the dark, Riddick was a pleasure to explore. Kaz allowed his hands to quest along the broad plains of his chest, down the ridges of his abs and the thick columns of his thighs. Firm muscles flexed beneath his fingers, then Riddick, with a swift surge of motion, toppled Kaz to the mattress and pinned him on his back like a helpless tortoise. "Damn cute," groweled Riddick. His hard cock pressed against the other man's, and Kaz quivered, but not with fear. Not this time.

As his hands returned to Riddick's chest, the bigger man seized Kaz's wrists and held them down so that he was spread-eagled. "Not scared?" Riddick asked thoughtfully. "You weren't so calm about it in the locker room the other night."

"That was then," Kaz answered simply. Only the faint glitter of Riddick's eyes was discernable. "I trust you."

A sigh. "You are so---" A kiss on his forehead. "Damned." A kiss on the tip of his nose. "Innocent." A real kiss, that wanted to inhale air from the depths of his lungs... "I've fucked people to death, remember? People, plural."

"On purpose?"

A bitter chuckle. "The first time, no. We were the same age, fooling around...hell, I was fifteen, I didn't know lube from orange juice in those days. I had a great time...a couple days later, my friend died of peritonitis. A few times, I did it to punish people. Some dealers, a cop..._that's _the one I got in trouble for. Take out the trash, and nobody notices, but fuck one cop up the ass and they never let you live it down."

Kaz blinked. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. See, at first, they didn't get me for that one. I'd been in and out of Rehab once, I was parroting all the right pshrink-speak and I managed to get into a vocational program, training to be a shuttle pilot. I was just about ready to graduate when somebody cross-checked the DNA sample for my passport ID with a list of unsolved crime specimens. Boom, the career is fubar and I'm off-world alright---to Gehenna for a 24-month vacation."

"Why'd you do it? I mean, why a cop?"

Riddick settled down against Kaz, letting go his wrists and taking his weight on his elbows so their chests just touched. "Ah, he was an asshole. He was pimping some broads I knew, and one time when one of them didn't come across with her tribute, he beat the hell out of her. The reason she didn't have it was because she'd already been rolled by one of her tricks, and he just made it worse. So I decided to teach him a lesson."

By his tone, the lesson had come at a high cost. Kaz understood that; it was a little like his experience as Kazi...bad judgement could really mess up your life. "I'm sorry."

"There was one other...accident. I had a girlfriend. I knew she was having female troubles, but I didn't know she'd had some kind of minor surgery for it. She wasn't supposed to have sex, but we did anyway...not rough or anything...that's one of the reasons I don't do a lot of women. They're too easy to break."

_No wonder he's been a little freaked out about Roi._ "You didn't break me," hinted Kaz. "Like you said, all that was a few years ago."

"Is that your way of saying you want to fuck?" Riddick asked playfully, stretching.

"I wouldn't mind."

"Yes or no: do you want to fuck?"

"Yes." A pause. "I want you to fuck me." Kaz heard the sentence emerge from his mouth and was amazed by how easily it had come out.

"We'll have to do something about that. Roll over." Riddick patted him on the ass as he got comfortable on his stomach. _Where the hell did that bottle of lube come from? Like I care? As long as he--oh God, that's-- _Kaz moaned happily.

It was even better than the first time, for quality, not necessarily quantity. This time, Riddick seemed more relaxed, too, less tense. He had Kaz lie on his left side, his right leg angled forward, and entered him gradually...Kaz wallowed in pleasure. When Riddick finally brought them both off, they fell asleep that way, back to front, and Kaz laced the fingers of his right hand through Riddick's as it dangled around his waist. "Good night, sweetheart," he muttered as Riddick began to snore.

Although Riddick was still snoring, the room was brighter when Kaz awoke. He realized, groggily, that Riddick was at his back, but something was ticking his shoulder. "Roi? What are you doing here?" In the diffused light spilling in from the main room, he could see the gilt sparkle of her hair. After seeing her for so long under the harsh lights of the SunRG1250s, it was interesting to see the planes and angles of her face with shadows, animated by consciousness...

"I was lonely," the replicant stated, and burrowed closer to him. The jealousy he'd been struggling with popped like a soap bubble. _Lonely. Geez, of course she's lonely. Everybody she knew from before is dead. She doesn't really remember Riddick, but she's dependant on him...on both of us._

"You don't have to be lonely," he consoled her. "You've got us."

For a long moment, Roi was silent. "I never thought I'd hear that," she said after a quiet pause. "from an Earth citizen, a natural-born human, to include someone like me...or is it because you find me desirable?"

_Y'know, I can see why Riddick was attracted to Roy. They've got the same kind of straight-out, no bullshit personality._ "You're a beautiful woman, Roi," he answered honestly. "Just like you were a good-looking man---but that's not why I'm including you."

"Why, then?"

"Because my conscience won't square with saving your life and just walking away. Keeping you alive physically wasn't easy, but you've still got a lot to adjust to. That includes being human, regardless of how you started out."

"What he said," Riddick added, and Kaz started. He hadn't noticed the ceasation of snoring.

It turned into a group hug; Kaz was a little relieved that Riddick wasn't ready for action again so soon. Roi didn't seem to be in any hurry to try out her newest attributes, either. They settled in comfortably with the blonde cuddled between them. Somehow, having Roi in bed with them didn't seem unusual--although interaction was still a novelty--and Kaz had the feeling his plans were about to change again. Roi confirmed his suspicions.

"Tell me about Oasis. What's it like? The pictures made it look lovely."

"Oh? Something you saw on the Style Channel?"

"No, when Riddick was making our reservations."

Riddick hissed, his silver eyes glinting in the dim room. "That was going to be a surprise."

"What?" Kaz looked at his partner in the half-light. "What reservations?"

"Well, we're going off-world, right? And you're coming with us, aren't you? Oasis is as good a place as any."

Kazminsky hugged Riddick as hard as he could, and kissed him with gusto. "Thanks, Riddick."

"Don't thank me yet. That's our final destination..."

"Where...?"

"We're going by way of Kessel. I have some unfinished business there."

_I don't know if I want to know...but I know it's not going to be dull..._ "If you say so, big guy. You're still the boss."

The End.

* * *

If this was a TV show, it would've been canceled for lousy ratings four chapters ago. Big thanks to my two loyal reviewers!


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